


Masks

by DarkEclipse



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-07
Updated: 2013-04-21
Packaged: 2017-12-07 18:09:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/751491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkEclipse/pseuds/DarkEclipse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The shinobi world is full of deceit. Lies and treachery command the unstable relationships between both people and nations. But, when "Looking under the underneath" isn't enough, where do you turn? When the life you've been living, the only life you've ever known has completely been a lie, where do you go? Who can you trust to actually be who they say? When the rookie twelve find out some dark truth about life, they start learning some darker truths about themselves. How can they cope when the world as they know is crumbling down around them? Who can they really trust? Themselves, even? Surely not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Life is complicated. And it's not even team selections yet!

**Author's Note:**

> DarkEclipse here o/  
> This is not my first attempt at a Naruto Fanfic, but it will be my first here on AO3. And no this is not my same name I have on other sites. So if you find another DarkEclipse, it isn't me.  
> I've been toying with a darker Naruto fic for quite some time, but for some reason this one just clicked with me. Hopefully it turns out well.  
> NOW, I cannot guarantee any consistent upload days/times, as I write when I'm compelled (as to get the best quality work out of my head as I can), which usually means I'm writing on weekends early in the morning. 3AM kind of early. I hate my muse sometimes.  
> But! I'm also a busy (and poor) college student. So, even if I love to be creative and write, it is not my first priority. Sadly, life comes first.  
> However, I'll be doing my best to get this fic from here to completion if it kills me. And it just may. Maybe.  
> Feel free to criticise/advise my work. I'm always looking for another perspective on my writing. As I've heard somewhere, each failure brings about greater success. (or something like that. IDK I'm tired right now. It's 3:30 atm.)  
> Anyways, hope you readers enjoy!

"Narutoooooo!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed heavily before pulling out another paper from the large stack sitting on the left side of his desk.Glancing down wearily at it, he skimmed over the details and sighed again. 'Another attempt by the council to control Naruto-kun...' He set the paper to the side, marking it with an "Approval Denied." He picked up the next paper - a request for grain import by a large merchant. He looked over it more thoroughly before signing his approval and setting it into a separate, much smaller pile on the right side of his desk.

"Don't let him get away!"  
"Come back here, brat!"  
"He'll pay for defacing our preciou-"

"Hokage-sama?" Hiruzen's head turned back towards his doorway, to where his secretary was poking her head in the door.  
"My apologies, Hira-san. Did you need something?" He glanced back at the pile of papers to his left, before his eye started twitching. The pile was noticeably larger than it was before he looked away.  
"Asuma-san is here to see you."  
"Please, send him in." 'I need a distraction from these papers anyway...' She nodded courteously before ducking back outside.

Asuma stepped through the doorway, unlit cigarette hanging from his mouth, as he dipped his head respectfully. "Hokage-sama."  
Hiruzen waved his son off before glancing down at his papers again, which had grown again, and letting off a heavy sigh. "What can I do for you Asuma?"  
Asuma let off a small chuckle at his father's behavior, and the ever growing stack of papers to be signed. "Well," he paused, working up his courage to speak. "I was hoping I could convince you to change my team around for tomorrow."  
"Change your team? I thought you wanted the new Ino-Shika-Cho trio. Didn't you personally request them just the other day?"  
Asuma sighed heavily. "Yes, but I don't think that they will be as successful as their fathers."  
"Not as successful? Any reason why you think so?"  
"They don't have the same dynamic. Ino dislikes both Choji and Shikamaru, Choji is too passive to get Shikamaru to do anything, and Shikamaru is far lazier than his father will ever hope to be."  
"Hmm... That does seem to be an issue. What would you suggest then?"  
"Well I think I would like to have..."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A group of 3 shinobi sprinted down an alleyway, before coming to an intersection, looking every direction, and sprinting down the right path. A few seconds later, a section of the wall dropped, revealing a grinning blond, wearing a bright orange jumpsuit.  
"HA! That'll teach them to try and find me." He stuck out his tongue down the alley before turning around to sneak back to class, only to find his shinobi instructor standing directly in front of him. "Ehehehe. How are ya Iruka-sensei?"  
"Naruto.... Was that you who painted the Hokage monument?" Iruka pointed at the mountain slightly behind him and to his right.  
The boisterous blond, grin faltering slightly, looked up at his sensei still chuckling nervously, "Yeah! It was my greatest prank yet!"  
Iruka's glare intensified before he grabbed the back of Naruto's jacket and dragged him off. "You'll be coming back to finish class now, and afterwards, you'll be cleaning off the mess you made of the Hokage Monument." Naruto just grumbled quietly under his breath, arms crossed and an irritated frown on his face.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The Hokage sat behind his desk, looking out his window at Naruto, who was dutifully scrubbing his "art" off the monument in the dying light. After a few more minutes of watching Naruto clean, he turned back to the room's other occupant and spoke. "So, Iruka, do you think he will have a chance of passing this year?"  
"Honestly, Hokage-sama? No. From what he has shown in class, he will not be able to pass with his bunshin."  
"That's unfortunate. How is the situation with Mizuki?"  
"I have a feeling he will be making his move this time around. He's been harsher than ever before on Naruto, to the point of putting Genjutsu on his previous written exam."  
"Very well. I will have an ANBU tail him at all times then. Now onto your current class of genin-to-be. I will be handing out team assignment to the jounin tomorrow morning. I have had personal requests for Sasuke, Shikamaru, and Hinata. Will there be any problem with these three passing the exam?"  
Iruka shook his head, somewhat expecting those three to be personally requested. "I have no doubt in them. Shikamaru will pass, if only just. Are they the only ones requested by name Hokage-sama?"  
"No. The full list is Sasuke, Shikamaru, Hinata, Shino, Kiba, Sakura, Ino, Choji, and Naruto."  
"Naruto, Hokage-sama? And if he doesn't pass?"  
The old Hokage chuckled to himself for a moment. "I have no doubt he will pass one way, or another."  
"Hokage-sama?" Hiruzen waved him off. "Now go see to Naruto-kun, since you promised him ramen, and without a doubt he'll find you sooner or later."  
"Hai, Hokage-sama."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Iruka walked up to the base of the monument, to a sweating Naruto who had his jacket tied around his waist, revealing his black shinobi undershirt. Raising a hand in greeting he called out, "Hey, Naruto!"  
Naruto glanced over and a huge grin flashed onto his face. "Hey Iruka-sensei. I just finished cleaning."  
"I can see. How about we go get some ramen, my treat."  
Naruto's face lit up. "Ramen? Let's go!"  
Iruka sweat dropped at his student's eagerness to go get some ramen, but bolted after him once he realized Naruto was already gone. "Only a few bowls, okay??"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Naruto closed the door to his apartment slowly, the ever-present grin sliding off his face. His hand snaked out to the door frame and touched a lightly engraved pattern, that when examined closer, snaked around the entirety of the doorway. Channeling a bit of chakra, the engravings glowed a faint blue, before returning to normal.  
He glanced around the messy apartment and rubbed his right shoulder. After taking his jacket off, carefully because his shoulder was on fire, he crashed onto his lumpy couch and let out a satisfied groan at the prospect of relaxing. "Cleaning that monument off was death to my shoulders. And arms. And back. Screw it, I just ache." He complained out loud, to no one in particular.   
After a few minutes of just lying on his couch and enjoying the ability to lie down, he pushed himself upright and padded off to his room. Once there, he checked his window, to make sure no one broke in while he was away, and then reached underneath his bed to a stash of scrolls. Pulling out three of them for the moment, and putting one back, he nodded to himself and moved back out to his couch.   
Setting the first one he pulled out to the side for the moment, he unrolled the second, looking for his previous spot in the writing.  
He sat there reading for a few minutes, squinting at the scroll before coming across a familiar passage:

"-To take the over half-twist room binding seal to the double over twist room protection seal first requires the study of an overarching multi-facet even seal array. The most common seal used in the room protection seal array, is the twelve-prong triple helix master seal. The triple helix allows an even combination and master seal, while allowing the user to alter and modify the entire seal using both even and odd seals. Each branch of the triple helix-"

Naruto sighed. He was still missing the basics of a seal array and how to set one up. Maybe his next prank he could sneak back into the library....  
He shook his head to clear that thought away. 'I'm already cutting it close enough. The last time someone nearly caught me copying the information out of those scrolls from the jounin section.' He tossed the scroll down onto the table and went to make himself some food.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The Hokage sat with three of his Jounin instructors-to-be before him, a collection of papers scattered across his desk and lit pipe in hand. He took a long drag before speaking up, having left the Jounin in silence before him for nearly 5 minutes now. "It is difficult to decide who I should consider for having the team they chose." He got three confused looks in return.

The only woman there, Kurenai, spoke up first. "What do you mean, Hokage-sama?"  
Hiruzen took another drag on his pipe, clouding the air with sickly-sweet smoke. "What I mean, is that each of you requested genin that one of the others had also requested. Now I have to decide which of you gets the team you originally chose, and which genin the other two get."

A brief look of surprise crossed each of their faces. "Might I ask who what the conflicting requests were, Hokage-sama?" This time it was Kakashi, minus his ever present book, who spoke up.  
The Hokage glanced down at the papers and cleared his throat. "Haruno Sakura." This brought another brief look of surprise from the three Jounin. Kakashi was about to speak up again, but Hiruzen stopped him with a hand motion. "Let me finish, Kakashi, before you make any more comments. Uzumaki Naruto was also requested by each of you." This brought looks of shock to each of their faces, each not expecting any other to have wanted the Kyuubi carrier.

"Now, I will start with Kakashi and whom he requested. I will give each of you a chance to convince me that your request is the best choice for these Genin. Kakashi, you requested Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto, and Uchiha Sasuke. First of all, do you still want these three?"  
"Hai, Hokage-sama." came the prompt reply.  
"Very well. Why did you choose these genin?"  
"The Uchiha for obvious reasons, Hokage-sama. Uzumaki as a close rival and potential friend, and Haruno to round out the group, as well as break her of her obsession with the Uchiha."

Hiruzen thought about it for a moment while smoking his pipe. "I, personally do not think that would work as well as intended Kakashi."  
"Hokage-sama?" came the startled reply.  
"Naruto-kun does not, nor ever will as I see it, think of the Uchiha as a rival. Not only that, but putting Haruno Sakura so close to her obsession will only worsen the situation. Kurenai."  
"Hai."  
"You chose Haruno Sakura, Hyuuga Hinata, and Uzumaki Naruto."  
"Hai, Hokage-sama. I believe Sakura will make an excellent Genjutsu user, Hinata is like a younger sister to me, and I believe that Naruto could help break Hinata out of her shy personality."  
"That seems logical and well thought out. Asuma, you chose Nara Shikamaru, Uzumaki Naruto, and Inuzuka Kiba."  
"Hai, Hokage-sama. I have been watching Naruto and he seems to have a very strong wind affinity. I also believe that Naruto could help get Shikamaru motivated, and Kiba to round out the team to make them a hunter squad."  
"That is also very well thought out. I can see both situations being beneficial to Konoha, but how do you know that Naruto has a wind affinity right now?"  
"Naruto is not as dim-witted as he would have others believe, Hokage-sama...."

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Naruto sat on top of the Yondaime Hokage's head, the wind blowing his hair in the bright moonlight. His thoughts kept turning back to one certain scroll he kept stashed underneath his bed. He had only read it once, much of it not making sense, except that the Bijuu, Kyuubi included, could not be truly killed. That, and the fact that more often than not, the Bijuu were sealed inside of people, known as Jinchuuriki, the power of human sacrifice.

He had tried to push such thoughts from his head, but he kept returning to one point: if Kyuubi couldn't be killed, where was it now? He had read that more often than not, Jinchuuriki were despised inside their homes, seen as little more than weapons to be used, if not the Bijuu themselves.

Naruto swallowed hard. Wouldn't his childhood in the village be considered close to one that Jinchuuriki lived? He wasn't hated or beat, per se, but he was neglected, ignored. The villagers chose not to see him when he was around. This thought made his heart pound and his mouth dry. What if he was a Jinchuuriki, or worse, if he was the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi itself, the most despised of the Bijuu!

Him! A Jinchuuriki!

But, the more logical part of his brain, desperate for reason, grasping at straws, told him, 'If you were actually a Jinchuuriki, wouldn't it be obvious that there was a Bijuu sealed inside you? A seal, definite markings, something!'

This one thought calmed his racing heart and took the edge off of the sheer terror he was feeling at the moment. If he really was a Jinchuuriki he had to have a seal somewhere on his body, and he was fairly sure he had never seen one yet.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"-ruto."  
"Mmm, ramen"  
"Naruto."  
"Ughh just lemme sleep five more minutes."  
"NARUTO!" Naruto leapt straight up from his seat, wide awake, with an irate Iruka-sensei in his face. The rest of the class was stifling laughs at the blond.  
"Ah! Iruka-sensei. Uhhh, is there a problem?"  
"It's your turn. Come with me." Iruka turned and walked into the Instructor's office at the front of the class. Naruto stood, rubbing his eyes and sleepily following suit."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I'm sorry Naruto, but you fail again." The blonde's ever present grin faltered ever so slightly, before it came back full force.  
"There's always next year Sensei! I'm sure I'll pass next time!" He gave Iruka a full grin, full of promise.  
Iruka returned his smile and waved him out. "Tell Ino she needs to come in now."  
"Hai, Sensei."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The blonde had his head down on his desk, feigning sleep, even though class had ended nearly an hour earlier and no one was even left in the building besides himself. His thoughts were jumbled, chaotic, filled with doubt at his ability to become a shinobi. He hated feeling like this, but he just couldn't learn the damn bunshin.

Naruto kept his head down as the door to the class room slid open. He heard footsteps make their way over to in front of his desk, but he kept up his charade of sleeping, as he had for the past hour. A hand came down on his shoulder and shook him - an obvious attempt to wake him. He sat up blinking sleepily and smacking his lips. "Mizuki-sensei! Am I in trouble or something?" Naruto asked with a surprised look on his face.  
"No, no, no, Naruto. Nothing of the sort." His lip curled upwards in something of a sinister grin. "I just wanted you to know there was another test for Genin that have failed for multiple years in a row."  
"There is?? Tell me Mizuki-sensei!"

"Well, Naruto, this test is only available to certain Genin. An instructor has to feel they're ready to pass, and they have to have failed the normal test only due to one jutsu for a number of years."  
"What do you mean, Sensei?" Naruto had a look of genuine confusion on his face. Mizuki hated him, but was helping him find a way to pass.  
"I went and looked up some old Konoha laws. If a Genin has failed three or more years in a row due to missing one of the 3 crucial academy jutsu, and an instructor supports their promotion, said Genin can take an alternate test to pass!"  
Naruto's face lit up with excitement. "Does that mean I have a chance, Sensei?"  
"Indeed, Naruto. Now would you like to take the alternate test? The only rule is, that you cannot tell anyone else about your mission. Understood?"  
"Hai, Sensei! Now what do I need to do??"  
"Well, you need to..."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Naruto was sneaking up the side of the Hokage tower, via a rope and pulley system he had set up earlier in the day to scare the Hokage. He had carefully been watching the ANBU forces patrolling the area, and had drawn them off using his trusty camo sheet and a good prank. He snickered quietly to himself. He probably wouldn't be able to top that prank for quite some time.

As he pulled open the window, having unlocked it with a long, thin piece of metal, a strong gust of wind picked up the board he was sitting on and started carrying him sideways, away from his target. He dove at the window as his board smashed against the side of the building and broke. As rotten as it was, he had expected that while he was on it painting the monument the day prior. His feet scratched against the rock surface of the tower, looking for purchase so he could haul himself inside. Nearly slipping and falling twice, he finally managed to pull himself in and froze when he heard footsteps outside the door. Footsteps sounding very much like the Sandaime's. 

He dove underneath the desk as the door was pulled open and a light shone around inside. He heard the Hokage mumbling about hearing noises and getting old before the door shut again. Naruto wiped his brow of sweat before slowly peering over the desk. The office was incredibly different at night. Picking himself up, he moved slowly towards the wall Mizuki told him about and moved the large picture of the Sandaime and his family aside. Just as Mizuki said, there was a safe there, but the more Naruto thought about it, the more he felt something was off with this 'mission.' 

He rubbed his shoulder nervously before setting about picking the lock on the safe. It was just as Mizuki described. A series of chained alarm seals and lock seals, of various types. If one seal was unlocked even slightly off of perfect, everyone in the nearby portion of Konoha would know. All he would have to do...

'Hide'

Naruto whipped around, searching for the source of the voice he had just clearly heard. Shaking his head he turned back to the safe, his hands shaking nervously.

'HIDE'

He froze this time, hearing footsteps running towards the office. Diving underneath the desk again, Naruto made himself as small as he could, lowering his breathing down to the shallowest of breaths he could manage. The door to the office slammed open not five seconds later, bright light streaming in from a multitude of lamps.  
"Someone has gotten into the safe! ANBU! Find the intruder at all costs!" came the shout of the old Hokage.  
"HAI!" came the chorused reply, as dozens of people moved across the room and out the windows.  
"Neko."  
"Hai, Hokage-sama."  
Take my guard and search the tower for anything out of place. Search every crevice. I will determine what the intruder has stolen. Send one of yours to raise the lockdown alarms. I want no one getting in or out until we have found this shinobi," came the stern command from the Hokage.  
"HAI!" Naruto heard another 5 or so people move quickly away from the office. He was starting to panic underneath the Hokage's desk. This was no "alternate test" as Mizuki put it. This was serious! And now, by his own stupidity, he was in the middle of it.

Naruto heard the Hokage muttering quietly to himself before he heard the creak of the safe opening, and scrolls being pulled aside and sorted through quickly. The Hokage sighed loudly in relief before putting all the scrolls back and standing up. "NEKO!" He called out loudly. Getting no reply, he moved to the doorway and then out. Naruto peeked out from his hiding spot and noticed the safe still standing open, with dozens of scrolls inside.

He immediately identified the scroll Mizuki-sensei had described. Large, much larger than any other inside the safe. He contemplated the thought of grabbing it for a few seconds before bolting to the safe and gently pulling it from its spot. He marveled at the age of the scroll before quickly shutting the safe and diving back underneath the desk. Naruto may not have thought of this as much of a test anymore, but it was his only chance at becoming a Genin, and he would take it, consequences be damned!

The Hokage and another that Naruto assumed was the ANBU 'Neko' walked back into the office. "There was nothing taken from the safe, so either the intruder was far more incompetent than we thought, or they underestimated the security I would put around the Shiki Fujin Scroll as well as the Scroll of Sealing."  
"So I am to call off the ANBU sir?"  
"No, Neko. I want this intruder found, but do it quietly."  
"Hai." Naruto heard her quickly move out the window behind the desk. "I'm getting too old for this job." the Hokage lamented. He turned and shuffled out of the office, extinguishing the lamps on his way out.

Left in darkness once again, Naruto waited nearly an hour before he dared to move out from his place under the desk. He crept quietly over to the window and looked out to see dozens of shadows leaping across the rooftops all around the village. He cursed under his breath while quickly thinking up a way to escape from the office unseen. He strapped the scroll to his back, and leaned out the window while looking up. Seeing a portion of his rope still hanging there, he grabbed for it and climbed onto the window sill. He pulled on it, checking its ability to hold his weight, before quickly and quietly scaling the outside of the tower to the roof.

From the roof, he jumped into the trees below, hoping his safety net was still there. Barely catching it on his way down, he cursed as his shoulder was dislocated and he dropped the rest of the way to the ground. He hissed in pain as he forced his shoulder back into the socket, almost screaming, but biting his tongue to resist.

Holding his aching shoulder, he staggered into the woods behind the Hokage mansion, and into the night.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


	2. Cleaning up Konoha; Team Selections!

Naruto sat poring over the scroll in his lap, attempting to pick out something he could possibly learn in the few hours he had until Mizuki showed up. In the little light he had, it made it incredibly difficult to read, let alone try to learn something from this scroll.

As he kept looking further and further into the scroll, he noticed that it was filled with incredibly difficult techniques. Most of which he wouldn't even begin to touch on the very first steps for years, at the rate he was teaching himself. He was mildly shocked at that - there were techniques out there that could kill you if done improperly. He had heard about in class he was sure, Kinjutsu, if he wasn't mistaken. Forbidden techniques. Techniques that were incredibly dangerous, too powerful to be used in normal circumstances, or techniques that broke the laws of nature, forcing some terrible consequence upon the user.

That terrified him. He was looking into the, undoubtedly, most valuable scroll in Konoha. No wonder the Hokage was paranoid over it.

Naruto started having second thoughts about listening to Mizuki's 'mission,' but if this was his one chance at getting to become a Genin this year, he had to take it! He was tired of sitting in the same boring classes, taking the same boring tests, feigning sleep just to appease the instructors that disliked him.

He refocused on the scroll. No use distracted himself needlessly. He had a valuable source of jutsu at his fingertips, and he was going to abuse that!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Nearly four hours later, well passed the time Naruto was supposed to meet Mizuki, Naruto stood from his spot in the forest, somewhat content with the techniques he had studied from the scroll. As a precaution, he had brought his own scroll to copy an extra technique or two down, but, and to his enjoyment, he had found five. However, between the time it took to practice the first one and the time it took to copy them all down, he didn't have enough to practice learn any more, unless he truly wanted to stay in the academy for another full year.

So, Naruto made his way to the outskirts of Konoha, the edge of the forest near the southern gate, where Mizuki said he would be waiting for him. Naruto strode out into the small clearing, looking around for his sensei.

Mizuki appeared quickly behind him and hissed at him in a low voice, "Why were you so late?? I told you, you needed to learn one technique, not study the whole damn scroll!"  
Naruto was startled at the malice in Mizuki's voice, as well as the hint of desperation. "I was having t-trouble, Sen-sensei. None of the techniques were very easy to learn." Naruto replied in a small, scared voice.  
"Whatever. Now hand over the scroll and your test is finished."  
"I'll be a Genin?" Naruto immediately perked up. "But what about the technique I was supposed to learn?"  
"Nevermind that. Just give me the scroll!" Mizuki made a grab for the scroll on Naruto's back, but he dodged away and stood facing him across the clearing.  
"Sensei, what's going on...?"  
"What's going on? I'll tell you what's going on, brat. You just stole Konoha's most valuable scroll for me. Now I'm going to take it from you, leave Konoha, and you'll take all the blame!" He started laughing maniacally while slowly moving towards Naruto. "Now will you give it to me, or do I have to kill you for it?"

Naruto started backing away, before stopping and getting a hard look in his eyes. "No. I'm not going to run. And I'm not going to give the scroll over to you. I just learned one of the techniques the scroll had, and I'm going to make full use of it!" He put his hands in a cross shaped handsign before calling out, "Kage Bunshin!"

Mizuki was startled as a cloud of smoke covered Naruto, and when it had cleared, not one Naruto, but five were standing before him, all with a hard look on their faces.  
"You really are the demon... Performing a technique most Jounin would die from." This caught Naruto off guard.  
"D-demon?" He shakily asked.  
"Oh?" Mizuki replied with a sinister grin on his face. "They haven't told you yet?"  
"What? What didn't they tell me??"  
"That you're the Kyuubi! Thirteen years ago, the Yondaime didn't kill the Kyuubi, he sealed it. Inside you!" He relished the shocked look that crossed Naruto's face. "You're the one that terrorized the village all those years ago demon, and now, I'll be renown as a hero for finally killing you!" He lunged at Naruto, but a single kunai came flying out of the bushes and pierced the side of his chest, easily sinking between ribs.

Mizuki coughed harshly as he collapsed onto the ground at Naruto's feet, the clones having vanished a few moments earlier. An ANBU walked out of the treeline, moving methodically towards Mizuki. Naruto, standing shell-shocked at the news he just heard, only just noticed the ANBU was female before Mizuki was bound, knocked unconscious, and thrown over her shoulder. She looked at Naruto carefully for a few seconds, recognizing the thousand yard stare he had at the moment.  
"I think it's best if you come with me."

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"So from what you've explained, Inu, Mizuki tricked Naruto-kun into stealing the Scroll of Seals, and bringing it to him. And he was going to either kill or incapacitate Naruto-kun, then escape with the scroll?"  
"Hai, Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen looked over at Naruto, who was still staring through the wall he was facing across from the couch he was sitting on.  
"And now Naruto-kun has been told that he has the Kyuubi sealed inside him"  
"Hai."  
"Please report to Neko and tell her the hunt is off. All ANBU up for eighteen or more at this point are to take six hours minimum downtime. That includes her. Dismissed." Inu vanished in a quick shunshin.

The Hokage stood up and made his way over to the couch, sitting down next to Naruto.  
"Is it true, Jiji? Am I really the Kyuubi?"  
"No, Naruto-kun. You have the Kyuubi sealed inside of you. Much like how a prisoner is inside a jail. The jail can never be that prisoner, and the prisoner can never be the jail."  
"That's good then." Naruto said softly. "I was scared, Jiji."  
"I know, Naruto-kun. I know."

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The next few days were spent as a village-wide witch hunt. Mizuki broke under Morino Ibiki's care in a matter of hours, a true testament to his skill in the interrogation department. What he learned, though, startled and scared him. The ANBU rounded up nearly forty other conspirators, half of which were instructors at the academy. Quite a few made a stand against the ANBU forces, but none could fight them off for more than a few hours. Of the group of forty one conspirators, two escaped the village. Each of those caught admitted to being followers of the Sennin, Orochimaru.

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Naruto found himself staring blankly up at the ceiling, unable to get to sleep for the third day in a row. The fact that he held the Kyuubi kept him in fear. What if it spoke to him while he slept? What if it started giving him nightmares? Or maybe it was responsible for the nightmares that kept him awake most nights anyhow.

Sighing and giving up on sleep for another night, he rolled out of bed and fetched the new scroll in his collection from under the bed. Unrolling it to the second technique he had written down, he began going over the steps again.

"Bunshin Daibakuha.  
The spin off assault technique for Kage Bunshin.  
1\. Form a kage bunshin with as little chakra as I can, while still maintaining the technique.  
2\. Form a kage bunshin with as much chakra as I can force into it. this should form, Then fail almost immediately. Bunshin must form to get correct amount of chakra.  
3\. Calculate difference in chakra between the chakra amounts.   
4\. Perform steps one through three upwards of ten to twenty times more to pinpoint exact amount of chakra consistently.  
5\. Form step one bunshin.  
6\. Step away.  
7\. Force chakra difference into bunshin in shortest time possible. Explosion should occur. If successful skip to step nine  
8\. If unsuccessful, attempt again, pushing the chakra faster. If it still fails, return to step four.  
9\. Move bunshin ten meters further than last attempt. Make another attempt. If unsuccessful return to step eight.  
10\. Continue moving bunshin ten meters further until consistent explosion occurs one hundred and twenty meters away. (This is a control technique)"

Naruto sighed again. Since he wasn't supposed to have looked at the scroll in the first place, attempting to learn such a dangerous technique anywhere he could be found wasn't an option. And he wanted to make things explode! Besides, it'd be a great trap for an enemy to attack a normal kage bunshin and have it spontaneously explode in their face. He opened the scroll farther; he could work on his control to prepare for bunshin daibakuha later.

"Chakra Absorption Seal."

This was followed by a very complex seal design, small enough to fit onto the palm of Naruto's hand, but detailed enough that he had taken over an hour just to copy this one. Before he could even think of applying this to himself, or as a combat technique from what he remembered from the scroll, he needed to practice his calligraphy. And his copying skills. And copying speed. The next two techniques he had copied down, Chain Restriction seal and Chakramane, were the same, either he needed to practice his sealing skills, or he needed to practice his control. He sighed to himself again. Control practice it was.

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Nearly a week had passed before all of the academy students were required back in class. Most of the clan students had heard there was something happening to the Chuunin senseis, but all breathed a sigh of relief when Iruka walked into the class. He cleared his throat and fixed his already orderly papers into a neat pile. He prepared for his "big-headed" technique to get the class quiet, but quickly realized the dull roar when he walked in was down to a few whispers.

Coughing to mask his surprise, Iruka finally spoke up. "As you may have possibly heard, this past week has been dedicated to cleaning out some of the traitors to Konoha. While you may be scared, or scared of rumors, nothing is to fear any longer. We have found and caught each of them, and they will all be spending the last of their lives in our prison.

Now," He cleared his throat again. "After waiting for so long, I have your team assignments. But before that, one of my students seems to be absent from selections.... Does anyone know where Naruto is?" All Iruka got in return was owlish looks from each of the Genin.

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Naruto was sitting in his bed, exhausted beyond belief, but unable to sleep. He had spent the past week training like never before. He had attempted to use more than twelve clones or so, nearly twenty looking back on it, to help him train his control, but at the end of the day, when the clones dispelled, he was left with the migraine from hell that knocked him unconscious until the next morning. He never strayed above twelve at most for the rest of the week.

He jumped when there was a loud knock on the door. "Naruto! You're missing team selections! Get dressed and get out here NOW!"  
He blinked a few times before climbing off his bed and making his way to the door. Opening it he found Iruka, an incredibly irritated Iruka, waiting for him. "Sensei?"  
"Let's go. You're already making me late, and the Jounin will not be pleased if I haven't even told their Genin which team they're on before they get there." Iruka grabbed his arm and started dragging Naruto off to the academy.  
"But Sensei, I never passed my exam. I'm not technically a Genin." Naruto protested.  
"You're on my list of passed Genin. Now come on!"

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The door to the classroom opened again, silencing the class. Iruka dragged Naruto in and pointed him at his desk before moving to the front of the room again. The class erupted into whispers at the fact that Naruto only had on his black undershirt and a pair of combat shorts. Most were appreciative that the orange jumpsuit was missing for once. Naruto just went to sulk with his head down on one of the corner desks.

Iruka organised his papers once again before speaking once again. "Now, as I was saying before I left, each of you here is now officially Genin. You are seen as adults in the world of shinobi and will be treated as such from now on. Your actions reflect the village as a whole, so be cautious with how you handle relations with foreign shinobi. A Jounin is now tasked as your sensei, and it is your responsibility to respect them as you would any other high ranking shinobi in the village. It is their responsibility to train and raise you into Chunin, and eventually, Jounin yourselves. The bonds of the teams you about to be placed in will last a lifetime. I hope you each will take such words to heart and become tight-knit groups of elite shinobi." Iruka paused for a moment, relishing in the fact that he actually had the entire class' attention, including Naruto for once.

"Listen closely, I will not be repeating the teams. Teams one, three, five, six, nine, fourteen, and twenty one are still in rotation. Team two will be..." Naruto zoned back out, listening for any names that he recognizes. Looking around, he just now realized that his class was much fuller than normal. Maybe it was because most of the Chunin sensei were traitors?

"Team seven will be Akimichi Choji, Uchiha Sasuke, and Yamanaka Ino."  
"Yatta! Take that Forehead!"  
"QUIET! Team Eight will be Aburame Shino, Haruno Sakura, and Hyuuga Hinata. Team Ten will be Inuzuka Kiba, Nara Shikamaru, and Uzumaki Naruto. Team Eleven..."

Naruto zoned out again after hearing his team. He glanced over at his two teammates - Shikamaru looked like he was asleep, but having faked sleep enough himself he knew Shika was wide awake and completely aware of his surroundings. He glanced at Kiba. Kiba was always a wildcard when it came to predicting people. Most of the village called him the most unpredictable, but Kiba, she was by far the winner of that title. One day he would say she'd dodge left, and she'd dodge right. The next he'd say she would leave most people alone, and the Uchiha would get kicked in the groin. He just never knew when it came to her.

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BWAHAHA *coughcough* Yes 'her'  
> Kiba is female in this fic. That is all.


	3. Enter Team Ten! Tests and First Missions!

A tall bearded man, smoking a cigarette came walking into the room. Taking one last drag on his smoke, he dropped it and ground it out with the toe of his combat boots. "Team Ten." He drawled out in a bored tone. Seeing Naruto, Kiba, and Shikamaru stand, he turned and walked out of the room, the three new Genin scrambling to keep up with him.

Finally catching him at the end of the hall, they followed him all the way out to one of the training grounds. A small creek ran in the northern end, but mostly the clearing was sparsely forested, making it seem almost not like a clearing at all. The Jounin stopped underneath one of the largest trees and waved the Genin to take a seat.

"My name is Sarutobi Asuma. I personally requested this team, so I expect the best out of each of you. Now, I'd like for each of you to introduce yourselves to each other and myself. First is the kunoichi with the puppy. An Inuzuka I'm sure."  
"Hai Sensei! My name is Inuzuka Kiba! And I'm going to be the best kunoichi the Inuzuka clan has ever seen! I like my puppy Akamaru, and training my taijutsu with my older sister, Hana. I dislike when my Kaa-sama scolds me for acting like part of the pack, and being forced to eat spicy foods. I hope we can make a good pack working together." She replied enthusiastically.

"Next is you with the pineapple hair."  
"Troublesome..." Shikamaru sat up from where he was laying watching the clouds pass. "My name is Nara Shikamaru. I like watching clouds pass by and playing Shogi. I dislike work and my mother yelling at me. I hope this team isn't too troublesome..."

Asuma barked a laugh. "Just like Shikaku. Blondie."  
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I like training and learning new techniques. I dislike being mistaken for something I'm not, and I want to become the strongest shinobi the village has ever seen!"  
Asuma looked pensive for a moment before speaking up again. "Now, I'm supposed to give you a test to make sure you're cut out to be Genin in the first place..."

"Another test! But we just passed the final!" Kiba exclaimed.  
"Yes, however, that is not a field test. We need to make sure you're truly cut out to become Genin before we accept you as our soldiers. Now I was going to give you the basic, run-of-the-mill teamwork test, but with an Inuzuka, you three would pass easily. So I changed that to individual tests fit to each of you." He made two kage bunshin, catching Naruto off guard. "Kiba, you are to track this clone through the forest around the clearing." 

"But Sensei, clones don't have a scent."  
"This is what's called a-"  
"Kage bunshin, or shadow clone. They are solid clones with as much chakra as its creator, meaning that the creator splits their chakra evenly between all created. It is mainly used for delicate recon where there is a life-threatening danger, due to the fact that these clones also relate their experiences back to their creator. It is an A-rank Kinjutsu technique." Naruto blinked at the looks he was receiving after his information dump.

"I'm quite impressed Naruto. How did you learn all of that?" Naruto created a kage bunshin of his own, receiving another round of odd looks and an outcry from Kiba.  
"But you're terrible at clones!"  
Naruto tapped his bunshin in the chest with a knuckle. "Yes, regular bunshin. But these use much more chakra, so I have no problem with them."  
"As I was saying, Kiba you will track this clone around the clearing. Naruto, you will spar with this other clone. Shikamaru, you and I shall play Shogi. Begin!"

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Naruto's body came flying and hit the tree Shikamaru and Asuma were playing Shogi under. Naruto groaned loudly from the sudden stop before he picked himself back up and ran back into the Taijutsu practice the clone was giving him. Kiba was sitting nearby, watching and talking to Akamaru. Asuma made his move on the board, having studied it closely for the past few minutes, while pointedly ignoring Naruto and Kiba. He had a grin on his face, one more move from winning the game.  
Shikamaru picked up his piece and placed it carefully. "Tsumi."

Asuma's grin instantly dropped as he began studying the board closely. "Well I'll be damned. Well played Shikamaru." He stood up and stretched his legs for a moment, having been locked in the battle of wits for well over three hours. "I think you all pass with flying colors. Although Naruto needs some work on his Taijutsu."  
"Hey!"

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The Hokage's office was crowded, having over ten Jounin sensei in the room at once. Kakashi walked in the door a few moments later. "Sorry I'm late, Hokage-sama. You see, I ran into this poor old man coming home from the market I shop at..." He trailed off at the laughter from all the other Jounin, mildly confused as to what was so funny.  
"Well, Kakashi, you're actually right on time."  
"I was told that the meeting was at one. Was that wrong?"  
"Seeing as we're just starting now, I would assume so." The Hokage replied with a grin on his face. Kakashi sighed before moving over to where Kurenai and Asuma were.

"Now, beginning with Team Two."  
"Fail. They had good teamwork, but they missed the objective altogether."  
"Team Four fails. They didn't have good enough teamwork."  
"Team Seven passes." Kakashi got numerous looks of surprise. "They had adequate teamwork and succeeded with the objective."  
"Team Eight passes. They easily saw through my attempts at pitting them against each other."  
"Team Ten passes. I gave them individual tests since they would have passed teamwork with flying colors."  
"Team Eleven fails."  
"Team Twelve passes."  
"Team Thirteen passes."  
"Team Fifteen fails."

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"This is Pineapple, are you in position. Over."  
"Hai. This is Sunny Day, over."  
"This is Flea Market in position, over."  
"Execute plan c, target will be moving at one meter per second at eye level, over."  
"Hai./Hai!"

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The three Genin gathered back together not a minute later, plus one hissing bundle of fur, affectionately known as Tora. Naruto had quite a few claw marks across his face, which he was tending to while Kiba held the cat-demon-thing out at arms length. Asuma landed next to the group just a few moments later.  
"Good job team! I have to say, that might have just set a new record on how quickly Tora was caught. I'll have to check with Hokage-sama, but if it is, dinner's on me."  
"Ramen then!"  
"No! Some fresh steak at the Inuzuka Steakhouse!"  
"RAMEN!"  
"STEAK!"  
"RAMEN!"  
"STEAK!"  
"Troublesome...."

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Asuma handed Tora back to her owner, the Fire Daimyo's wife, Team Ten couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the cat, and Shikamaru silently promised not to let Kiba loose on her again.  
"Now, Team Ten, that was an excellent job catching Tora, one of the fastest if I do say so myself. How about another mission to round out the day?"  
The resounding "NO!" he got in return disheartened him quite a bit.

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Team Ten found themselves at one of the new Akimichi barbeque restaurants since Naruto and Kiba couldn't come to terms on where to eat, Yakiniku Q. The group was chatting amicably, waiting for their food to cook, Kiba and Naruto both taking glances at the meat often and occasionally trying to grab some, where their hands were smacked away by Asuma's chopsticks. Both would pout for a number of minutes, get sucked back into the conversation, and try again.

Once the food was finally ready, both Kiba and Naruto started wolfing it down, not finishing dinner until Asuma was crying at the hit to his wallet.

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The next morning found Team Ten back out at the same training ground, now known to them as training ground nineteen, the Sparse Forest. Asuma came out of the woods, muttering to himself about something, before he spotted his team and walked over.  
"Good, you're all here on time. We will continue to meet here daily until further notice. Two days each week you will meet here for your morning exercises, before going to the Hokage Tower and getting two D rank missions. After completing them, which I expect you to do before lunch, I want you back here for Chakra Theory lessons. After lunch, which I will NOT be providing, thanks to Naruto and Kiba, you will return here for alternating days of Taijutsu and Ninjutsu practice. I will be giving you things to work on in your own time. I expect you to learn them quickly and perfectly. If you have any questions you can ask me after training each day. Understood?"  
"HAI!/Troublesome..."

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Three weeks passed quickly under Asuma's training, although the three Genin would think of it more as torture. Each morning started with, initially, a mile jog and some conditioning, but now it was reaching a three mile run, and some heavy conditioning, which Asuma expected them to perform in the same amount of time as before. Then most days they studied Chakra theory, going over Chakra in its most base form, and getting more complex from there. They had just reached Chakra natures and nature manipulation the last week, but Asuma said he wouldn't start them on actual nature manipulation exercises until they were sufficiently progressing in their Ninjutsu.

From there, they moved into either Taijutsu or Ninjutsu training. Taijutsu consisted of Asuma picking apart their stances and movements, and constantly yelling at them or knocking them to the ground in a spar. Ninjutsu mostly consisted of training control at this point. He had them running on the sides of trees. He sometimes even combined the two and made them spar sideways. Those days each Genin went home and passed out almost instantly.

The occasional days, of their choice, of D rank missions was nothing they enjoyed either. Since those days they only got to miss out on Chakra Theory, all of them would rather skip the missions and listen to Asuma lecture more. Luckily, they had not had to chase Tora again, yet.

None of the Genin had seen the rest of their friends from the academy since they got their Jounin sensei, but at the same time, they didn't want to find out that their friends got the nice sensei that didn't work them half as hard as Asuma did.

Shikamaru still had trouble adjusting to the fact that he had gotten rather used to doing all the work the team did every day. He still blamed Naruto for that.

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Asuma snuck along the dense treeline at the edge of training ground nineteen, watching his team perform the morning workout routine he had set for them rather efficiently. Whenever one of them, more often than not Shikamaru, would lag behind, the other two would double back and run with him, or take a short break and restart that block of exercises over all at the same time. he was proud of his team for showing such good teamwork and camaraderie after only a few weeks of knowing each other.

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Shikamaru led Team Ten up to the mission desk, as he always did every third day, greeting all of the staff and stepping in line behind some of the other Genin teams.  
"Team Ten reporting for our two D rank missions Iruka-sensei."  
"Well hello Shikamaru, Naruto, Kiba. Been busy?" Iruka started looking through the list of missions assigned each team supposed to come in that day, before searching through the stacks of scrolls next to him.  
"Hai, sensei. Asuma-sensei keeps us incredibly busy."  
"Good. Now stay out of trouble Naruto."  
"Hai, Sensei."  
"Here's your scroll for today." Iruka handed Shikamaru a single scroll.  
"Only one today?" Shikamaru asked curiously.  
"Hai. It says here, that you are to report to your normal training ground prior to opening the scroll."  
"Arigatou, Sensei."

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Team Ten found their way back to the Sparse Forest, curious as to what was going on, when they found Asuma laying against the largest tree, smoking his ever present cigarette.  
"Sensei, did you order us to only do one mission today?"  
"Hai. You can open it and read the details now Shika."

Shikamaru unrolled the scroll, startled by the large C written across the top rather than the D he was used to. Scanning through it quickly, he thought for a few moments before turning to his teammates and summarizing for them. "Today's mission is a C rank eradication mission. We are to remove a small bandit camp threatening one of Konoha's outlying villages. Lethal force is authorised and expected." Naruto and Kiba looked startled at that information, before Naruto turned to their sensei.

"You mean, you're taking us out for our first kill?"

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	4. First Blood! Team Ten's Rank C Mission!

"Hai, Naruto. I'm taking you out to kill. Or more properly, taking you out to kill so you aren't a hindrance on a mission where killing is inevitable. Everyone's first kill is hard, and some shinobi can never truly recover from the shock. I'm trying to avoid that possibility by having you kill in a more controlled environment."  
"I understand, Sensei." All three of Team Ten had ambiguous looks on their faces, but their eyes betrayed their emotions: fear, nervousness, worry. Asuma could understand why they felt the way they did, although it would be worse before it got better.

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Team Ten found themselves outside Konoha not an hour later, traveling quickly through the treetops to their destination: the bandit camp outside Riba no mura, the village of rivers. Riba no mura was one of the big shipping towns for Konoha's freight, and as such, couldn't be stopped by mere bandits, if only for a day.

The travel out to Riba no mura wasn't a long one, no more than a few hours at the speed they were traveling, but by the time Team Ten did reach the village proper, it was late afternoon. The team stopped for a bite to eat in a local shop, Asuma paying for it at the moment, but told his team they would be paying him back for how much they spent later.

They left town after their meal, Asuma's wallet nearly empty from the large amount Naruto and Kiba ate, Akamaru included, and headed just southeast of the village, where their last intel on the bandits had placed the camp. Reaching a nearby ridge, Asuma stopped the team and turned to them for final instructions.

"Now, I know this will be difficult on all of you, but you must do your best not to lock up in combat if you do kill someone prior to your last opponent. I will do my best to protect if such happens, but there is a slight chance that something could go wrong. Remember, we're only here for your first kills, nothing more, nothing less. If you take one life and it's too much for you to take another or continue combat, retreat to this ridge, and I will finish cleaning things up." He put his hand on Naruto's shoulder and looked each Genin directly in the eyes. "Now stay safe, each of you, and use what I've been teaching you."

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Team Ten waited until dusk, when the changing light would be the hardest to see through, as well as the typical time to change guards was. The three Genin crept towards the camp, following one of their plans they devised. Being a team that was dedicated more towards tracking and retrieval than stealth, they had to work around that. As such, Naruto was wearing some clothes he had sealed on himself, having discarded the bright orange jumpsuit for now. Kiba was leading the three, her eyes being the sharpest of the group, as well as the fact that she could track via scent.

Sneaking up on the closest guard was far easier than any of the Genin expected; the guard was lax at best, most likely drunk and inattentive to the world around him. This wasn't lost on the Genin, who swiftly knocked the guard unconscious and had Naruto create a clone henge'd to stand in. The Genin snuck into the camp behind the first row of tents after binding and hiding the body of the guard. 

Shikamaru, having finally gotten to the point where he had needed more clan ninjutsu techniques in training, had turned towards his father for help. The first technique he learned was kagekuroru, shadow crawling. This technique had a unique purpose in that it was not meant as a combat jutsu, but as a utility jutsu. Shikamaru had specifically asked for this technique to combat his team's weakness in stealth.

"Kagekuroru." Team Ten was unflinching as the shadow of the tent seemed to come alive and swallow them whole. The Genin slowly rose out of the ground, into the alternate realm that kagekuroru pulled its user into, the realm of shadows. Everything appeared washed-out, colors incredibly faded, almost to the point of being black and white. 

Naruto and Kiba snuck forward, careful to stay completely in the shadows connected to Shikamaru's, else they would be forcefully thrown back into the real world, which was incredibly disorienting, as they had found out during their first team use of the jutsu.

Each moved towards a different tent, checking to see if there was a bandit inside, and if there was, incapacitating them before they could wake up or call out. After having taken nearly half the camp in such a way, Shikamaru made the technique fluctuate, the world itself rippling. He had been standing stock still, holding the same technique for his jutsu since they had entered the world. Both Kiba and Naruto dove into respectable cover as Shikamaru released the technique and collapsed onto hands and knees, very nearly panting for breath.

All three members of Team Ten cursed silently that the technique lasted shorter than they had hoped it would, Shikamaru silently promising to work on upping his Chakra reserves during training from now on.

While Shikamaru recovered, Kiba and Naruto continued sneaking into the few tents of the outside ring that were left, very nearly getting caught twice. They regrouped on Shikamaru after finishing the last few bandits.

One of the few things Asuma was insistent his team learn as quickly as possible was silent communication. Team Ten had been tasked with finding a way to talk completely silently without any mistakes. They had created a sign language, not one so complex as the ANBU language, but one comprehensive enough that Shikamaru could administer orders, and Naruto and Kiba could relay information.

Shikamaru made a few handsigns, to which both Naruto and Kiba nodded, before all three moved inwards and behind the largest of the three remaining tents. Kiba sniffed the air quietly, while straining her ears over the crackling of the nearby fires for any sounds. She then made a series of three hand signs. 'Likely three hostiles. Potential five.' The Genin prepared themselves before Naruto made a group of three clones, henge'd into the team, carefully scoot around towards the front of the tent and charge in.

Kiba cut a slit in the back of the tent with her claws, moving quickly into the enclosed space while her teammates followed her in. The interior was surprisingly well lit, far more than the team expected from a bandit's tent. The three clones were doing their job splendidly - distracting the occupants of the tent.

The team moved quickly, each jumping on one of the three occupants. The surprise attack caught the bandits completely off guard, and they quickly succumbed to the attack on two fronts. The noise drew the attention of the few remaining guards from the two other tents, who came rushing in, to come face to face with the clones, who quickly engaged on them with Taijutsu.

Naruto looked at the others and nodded, having noticed there were only three more. Shikamaru and Kiba grimaced, but moved to follow the blonde as he suddenly dispelled his clones. The bandits, not expecting their opponents to spontaneously disappear, were caught off guard and forced outside the tent by Team Ten. 

Kiba quickly pounced onto her opponent, kunai and fangs bared into a snarl, as she quickly overpowered the bandit and made a quick cut on his neck, about where the main artery would be. She leapt off him as he clutched his throat and let out a choked gurgling scream. She turned away, tears burning in her eyes at what she had done, before glancing at her teammates to make sure they were ok.

Shikamaru followed his opponent out quickly, shadow leading him out. He restrained his opponent on the ground, before he pulled out a kunai and handed it to his captive. He brought his hand up and pulled it quickly across his throat, as the bandit did the same. Shikamaru released his technique and glanced up at the sky. "Troublesome."

Naruto followed his opponent out, the only bandit who didn't' get knocked down on his way out. He barrelled into his opponent, sending him back again. Following up with a swift kick, Naruto knocked him into the air. Timing it carefully, Naruto kicked him backwards, leaving him bruised and bleeding. The bandit, unfortunately for him, landed on the still burning fire. Unable to get up, his screams tore across the night as he was slowly burned to death. Naruto was left wide-eyed at the sound and sight, unable to tear his gaze away.

Asuma landed not far from the team, grimaced at the sight, and threw a kunai into the man's chest, silencing him abruptly. The sudden lack of noise startled the Genin back into reality, where they were left wondering what happened before they spotted their sensei. "Go back up to the ridge; we can talk about this there."

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	5. Moving on! Team Ten returns to Konoha!

Asuma returned to the ridge above the bandit camp about twenty minutes later. He found his three Genin silently waiting for him. Shikamaru was standing a short distance away, hands in his pockets, staring up at the cloudy night sky. Kiba was sitting with her back to the tree about forty feet away, eyes closed with a yawning Akamaru in her lap. Naruto was perched in the tree above her, staring out over the dark terrain, looking but not seeing.

Asuma sighed, knowing this would probably be the hardest moment in their entire shinobi careers, and he would have to help them see that it wasn't ok to kill, but it was necessary. "Shikamaru, come here for a sec." Shikamaru glanced at his sensei before muttering something close to 'troublesome' and walking over.

Naruto glanced down at his sensei talking with Shikamaru. obviously over what happened tonight. He turned back out to the view over the ridge he had. That scream was still haunting Naruto, piercing and sharp, the biting scream of a main dying in pain. He had never meant to kill him in such a way, he just didn't want to take any chances that the bandit could harm his teammates.

More importantly, what if his teammates started seeing him as the Kyuubi reincarnate?

Naruto stopped his thought there. His teammates most likely didn't even know he held the Kyuubi, let alone that he could be the Kyuubi himself. Naruto shivered, the fear of betrayal was still too powerful to completely cast out of his mind.

"Foolish child."

Naruto's head whipped around. "Naruto, Sensei wants to talk to you." Naruto glanced down from his perch to see Kiba standing and looking up at him, Akamaru tucked comfortably inside her jacket.

"Hai. Be right there."

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"You do understand that you aren't the Kyuubi?"

Naruto's head turned to his sensei, who was standing and looking up at the moon that had come out minutes earlier. They had been standing silently together for about five minutes before Asuma had spoken, catching Naruto off guard.

"Nani, what do you mean Sensei?"  
"I mean, Naruto, that you are the Jail and Kyuubi the prisoner. The prisoner can never be the jail and the jail cannot be the prisoner. You are not, nor will you ever be the Kyuubi. It is merely held inside of you, behind incredibly powerful seals."  
"I understand, Sensei, but that has never stopped peoples opinions before."  
"And those people are foolish and ignorant. What happened tonight was not the Kyuubi. You made the choice, a choice some would never make, to protect your teammates at the cost of killing someone. You care for your teammates like family already, and I hope it stays that way."

Naruto kept staring at his sensei, unable to say anything.  
"Now, we'll be heading back to Konoha in the morning. Try to get some sleep tonight once we get to the inn." Asuma glanced down and smiled warmly at him.  
"H-hai, Sensei."

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Asuma sighed as he was walking behind his students on their way back from Riba no Mura; the whole day so far, his team had barely said five words to each other. He shook his head at the fact that they were still caught up on the fact that they killed someone, where he gave each of them the advice they needed to push passed it. He had hoped that they would be better than that, since killing was the kind of work shinobi did more often than not.

He mulled over how to get them to perk back up into their usual selves, and came up with an idea rather quickly, although, his wallet would potentially take a huge hit again. "Kiba, Naruto." Both Genin looked back at him, curious expressions on their faces. "Are you two willing to take a bet?"

Naruto cocked his head to the side. "What kind of bet Sensei?"  
"If you three manage to beat me back to Konoha, I'll buy the team lunch."  
"WHAT? I'm in!"  
"So am I!"  
"Arf!"  
"Troublesome."  
Before both Genin could take off towards Konoha, Asuma grabbed them by the back of their shirts. "Some rules: First, you can sabotage your opponents, but nothing lethal. Second, Whoever gets there first, decides where we eat. And finally, if I get there first, I don't have to pay for lunches for the next month."  
Kiba and Naruto were promptly glaring at each other, sparks flying between their eyes. "By the way, I win if I beat ANY of you three into Konoha."  
Naruto and Kiba looked startled for a moment, before turning to glare at Shikamaru, who in turn was silently cursing his sensei for the trouble. Asuma laughed at Shikamaru's expense for a minute, before glancing around and noticing that his team was already gone.

"Well shit. I NEVER SAID GO YOU BRATS!"

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Naruto was sulking in his chair inside the Inuzuka steakhouse. Akamaru had tripped him at the last moment, making him stumble, and letting Kiba win the race. Asuma had shown up a few moments after his team, to find Shikamaru passed out against the outer wall, Kiba praising Akamaru for his good work, and Naruto sulking. They had then shortly after made their way into the steakhouse, where Asuma joined Naruto in his sulking after seeing the prices. The only benefit was that his team would get a discount since Kiba had brought them in.

After enjoying their food, as even Naruto had to admit that they had some good food at the steakhouse, they made their way up to the Hokage tower, where Asuma gave his report, and they each got paid for a C rank mission. All three Genin were startled at how much more a C rank paid over a D rank, and outright told their sensei that they would be taking more C rank mission soon. Both Asuma and the Hokage sweatdropped at their forwardness.

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The next few weeks were much the same for the Genin. Study in the mornings, train all afternoon, pass out by the time they reached their beds, and repeat, except for the occasional off day Asuma gave them.

Team Ten occasionally had one of the other teams stop by and say hello, but they never stayed for long, and Team Ten never got to stay away from training for long, although they never did train while another team was around.

Shikamaru finally got around to mastering some more complex clan techniques, as well as furthering his chakra reserves. He also started development of a few techniques of his own, citing that his clan had no such technique yet and the team could use what he was working on. No one except his father knew what he was working on.

Kiba pushed herself to become the best at taijutsu of the group, doing physical training well beyond what either of the male Genin did. She had also all but forced Asuma into sparing with her everyday, as well as asking her family for more taijutsu training once she went home.

Naruto had taken to the ninjutsu training Asuma started like a fish to water. After all three Genin had returned and proven that they could perform tree-walking up to his standards, he started them on water-walking, which the team had down within a week. He then gave them the kunai balancing exercise and told them to work on it in their spare time, before starting them on basic chakra manipulation.

Naruto was by far the best of the three when it came to manipulating raw chakra. He would work tirelessly long passed the end of training, forcing himself to get better and better each and every day. He had also taken to visiting the library to study up on the forgotten art of Fuuinjutsu. Having always had an interest in it, and a few scrolls tucked away under his floor that weren't -technically- his, he pushed himself to understand the complex art, often buggin Shikamaru during breaks in training for help.

Asuma had kept a close eye on each of them, always giving them a break whenever one of them burnt out, more often than not Naruto. He had scratched his head over why Naruto of all people would be the first on his team to crash, until he had hidden himself after practice one day and watched Naruto for a few more hours. He was astounded at the level of effort that Naruto was putting forth. For what purpose, Asuma wasn't very sure, but it brought a smile to his face knowing Naruto had something to strive for now.

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Team Ten found themselves slowly migrating away from D rank missions altogether. The Genin had noticed this when Asuma started making the comment at some practices that they could take the next morning off, when that would be their typical mission day. The Genin, of course, took this as private practice time, and they all spent time on their own personal projects.

They also found themselves going out weekly for daytime C rank missions, leaving in the early morning, and returning before nightfall. sometimes, these missions were just as boring as the D rank missions, but Asuma would always come up with some way to make the missions harder, or force them to use chakra control exercises only while performing some missions.

The most difficult mission they had ever done, though, was a C rank turned B rank retrieval mission, near the outskirts of Hi no Kuni. They were tasked with bringing back a lost information scroll from one of the runners of the border patrols. They ran into a group of Genin level missing nin that, when confronted about the scroll, attacked them without warning and had to be fought off. Team Ten stood tall that day, each member feeling accomplished that they not only completed their mission, but fought off three to five enemy Genin apiece.

Asuma was more worried as to why a group of Genin that large was inside Hi no Kuni in the first place, but wrote them off once they killed the last of them. His team was back in a funk for a short period, but they livened up as soon as they had possession of the scroll and were on their way home.

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Asuma held the team up as they were leaving training one day. "I have something to inform you all of. The Chuunin exams are going to be held here in Konoha this time around. I'm going to be entering when the registration opens up. You all have a little more than two months to prepare accordingly. I expect each of you to give it your best shot."

"Hai, Sensei!"

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"Team Seven, requesting a C rank mission, Hokage-sama."  
"Understood, Kakashi. Iruka, could you please fetch Tazuna-san for Team Seven's C rank mission?"  
"Hai, Hokage-sama."

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back finally!  
> Sorry for the break, but I was burnt out, and had a lot going on since finals is right around the corner.  
> Enjoy!


End file.
